Friday, December 17, 2010

No hiding place: The amazing scans that show the dangerous lengths to which drug smugglers will go

At first glance it may appear just like a normal body scan - but something is very definitely off.
These extraordinary images of drug mules show the packages of narcotics hidden inside their bodies in astonishingly clear detail.
Computed tomography or CT scans are usually used by doctors to diagnose disease.

Busted: The first of the CT scans shows roughly 20 packages of drugs lodged in a man's colon

Busted: The first of the CT scans shows roughly 20 packages of drugs lodged in a man's colon
Talk your way out of this one: One man took the very easy route of stashing some cocaine packets under his tongue

Talk your way out of this one: One man took the very easy route of stashing some cocaine packets under his tongue

Bottoms up: This scan, taken from the feet looking up towards the head, clearly shows nine white packets of cocaine

Bottoms up: This scan, taken from the feet looking up towards the head, clearly shows nine white packets of cocaine
But now the high-tech X-rays are being used as an increasingly effective weapon in the war against drugs.
Mules often swallow carefully wrapped packages of drugs or stuff them in to body cavities to keep them hidden as they smuggle them through airport security and across borders.
And when they are caught, the contraband shows up a lot more clearly on CT scans than they do on ordinary X-rays.

My tummy's feeling funny: This colour-enhanced scan shows drugs packed into the large intestine
My tummy's feeling funny: This colour-enhanced scan shows drugs packed into the large intestine

Just to be sure: Another view of the man with the cocaine hidden beneath his tongue
Just to be sure: Another view of the man with the cocaine hidden beneath his tongue

Dr Priscilla Flach, a radiologist at the University Hospital in Berne, Switzerland, is the author of a new study comparing the two imaging techniques.
In her colour-enhanced scans of mules caught in Swiss airports and train stations, the drugs packets are eerily suspended inside the body.
In many of the scans, the sheer size and number of the packets is enough to induce an involuntary shudder.
Sometimes the drugs are packaged in specially made containers - but often they are simply packed into condoms.
Sharp as a beach ball: This man complained of abdominal pain... which was unsurprising considering he had 100 packets of cocaine stuffed in there
Sharp as a beach ball: This man complained of abdominal pain... which was unsurprising considering he had 100 packets of cocaine stuffed in there

Room for one more? A mule caught with packets in his colon
Room for one more? A mule caught with packets in his colon

Don't put all your eggs in one basket: This man had packets of cocaine under his tongue as well as some hidden in his stomach
Don't put all your eggs in one basket: This man had packets of cocaine under his tongue as well as some hidden in his stomach
Aside from the danger of being caught, mules also face the danger of one of the packets inside them bursting.
Quite often that amount of drugs in their system could prove fatal.
Computed topography scans use digital processing to generate a single three-dimensional image of the inside of an object using a series of two-dimensional X-rays around a single axis of rotation.
It has several advantages over traditional X-rays - one of the most important being the higher level of contrast.
But there are also fears over the level of radiation used in the scans and how it affects the body.
CT scans were first introduced in the 1970s.
Posted by Sinlung at 1:55 AM

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